Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No, it is not. It is on foot of what I have just heard. In many respects, the debate is a perfect illustration of why the people have for a long time and in ever greater numbers lost confidence in this Government. Elected with the largest majority in our history and even backed by the genuine goodwill of non-supporters, Fine Gael and the Labour Party had an unprecedented opportunity to implement reform. They had the space to put in place a vision for a fairer Ireland. They also had a lengthy media honeymoon to keep some of the normal pressures away. However, they chose a different way. There has been no new social or economic blueprint for our future. There has been no attempt to change how our country is governed. There has been no interest in reaching out to those without political power. This is an arrogant, out of touch and increasingly out of control Government which has been deeply unfair and divisive. With its trail of broken promises and obsession with spin, it has broken faith with the people who elected it. It has been deeply divisive in its policies and blind to the destructive impact it has had in area after area.

Time and again, major problems have been allowed to develop directly because of Government policies and have only been addressed when there has been a massive public backlash. The Taoiseach has repeatedly come to the House to tell us how everything is going fine, only to see hospitals, schools, the Garda Síochána, property tax, water charges, medical cards, household debts, personal pensions, job insecurity, housing, drug abuse and area after area of public services slide into crises. As we have heard yet again today, this is a Government which is so out of touch that it does not have the faintest idea why it is so profoundly unpopular and continues to spark loud resistance.

Yet again we have heard the fairy-tale story of a selfless Government which came to office and turned everything around and only has problems because of how hard it has been working on our behalf. There are occasional admissions of small mistakes, but the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and their dwindling band of followers basically believe that people are not giving them the credit they deserve. According to them, anything bad they did was only because they were forced to do it.

This is a story which is as dishonest as it is discredited.

In its nearly four years in office the Government has never produced a plan for the economic and social development of our country. In fact its very first decision as a coalition was not to negotiate a new fiscal framework. For its first three years it followed the broad guidelines of the plan it inherited and, by the way, had campaigned against in the general election.

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